Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Japan Planning Vol.1

It's an idea that came up a bit late in the race, but I am going to attempt to chronicle the woes(and of course triumphs) of planning my own trip to Japan during Spring Vacation.

In Volume 1, things I've accomplished today:

-Did some research into the means that I am going to the Tokyo Anime Fair. The first weekend I will be in Tokyo coincides with the two days the Tokyo Anime Fair is open to the public. The Tokyo Anime Fair is a huge anime convention that happens once a year, routinely at Tokyo Big Site. It's attendance last year was an upwards of 100,000 people. I haven't heard much talk of it on the internet in English, but from the scattered information I've gathered I know they have anime awards(most of which have been snagged by the movie "Summer Wars"), huge booths from all across the anime industry, and pre-screenings for new anime.
Transportation is something I totally forgot to thoroughly look into for this event; I've kind of just said "We're going!" when the event is mentioned. From the map and other sites, I will need to take a private line train from a station not far from Shinagawa, which is very close by my hotel. From there it is only about a 7 minute walk. It opens at 10 but I've seen warnings that the place will be up to the brim with people waiting, so I've decided to make the most of my morning by cruising around other places in Tokyo then hitting up Big Site at around 12 or so.

-Next, went ahead and checked on the hotel I will be lodging in while visiting Okayama. A good friend of mine arranged a cheap hotel for my friend and I and just recently told us all the details. Looks good so far and it also helps a lot that the hotel is in Okayama city instead of Kurashiki, where I predicted it to be, since my friend stays there. This puts us at the center of Okayama meaning one less commute from Kurashiki to Okayama station; if I want to leave Okayama Prefecture I will have to always come back to Okayama station to catch the Bullet Trains and such and the private line from Kurashiki to Okayama is not covered in my JR Rail Pass. Very glad about this.

-On that note, the hotel is in Honmachi, which is also where Okayama Crazy mama 2nd room is, a live house where I want to attend a couple of concerts. I'm still stoked on checking out Ginback/Homme/etc. at the venue the day I arrive and hopefully Deerhoof, a band from the US with a Japanese vocalist, which will play at Okayama Pepperland on my last day there. I listened to a song from Deerhoof on their myspace page(it was a live youtube clip) and I can't say I'm a fan yet, but the drummer was definitely a pulling force for me to go. He was spectacular on stage and the busy drumming gave the track a really strong backbone, with the vocalists' soft voice delivering the occasional short but sweet lyric. It was a very interesting combination, so I'm a bit excited at the fact that I may be able to see them live.

There is still lots to do, not to mention the many many reports for school that must be tackled before I leave.